–During an appearance at an area high school Tuesday, defensive end Shaq Lawson spoke for the first time in public about his ejection from Sunday’s game against Jacksonville when he brawled with running back Leonard Fournette.
“Alright, it’s real, man, I’ll answer,” Lawson said when he was asked by a high school student at a speaking engagement, as reported by The Buffalo News. “At the time, how the whole situation happened, I was defending myself because he came from the sideline. So, at that time, I was basically defending myself and my team, fighting for my brothers. Ain’t nobody going to let anybody in this world let a man throw a punch at you and you won’t react to it. I mean, on my part, I apologized for reacting that way. I mean, at the end of the day, people will understand where I’m coming from.”
Lawson did not speak to reporters after the game, but Fournette did, and he basically recited the same story from his perspective. However, Fournette also admitted that his actions, and getting thrown out of the game, probably cost the Jaguars a victory. They had first-and-goal at the 1 after the fight, and never scored. Surely, Fournette would have been called on in that situation and probably would have scored a touchdown as he’d been hurting the Bills all day.
–The Bills are now on their third punter of the season after waiving Colton Schmidt and signing Mike Darr on Tuesday. Schmidt had been the punter for four seasons before getting cut at the end of training camp and was replaced by rookie Corey Bojorquez.
Bojorquez was adequate, especially his ability to kill punts inside the 20, but he landed on injured reserve prior to the Bears game on Nov. 4. Schmidt was re-signed, but he did not punt well, his hang time particularly problematic. Darr, who entered the NFL in 2015 as an undrafted free agent, punted two seasons for the Dolphins but has not been in the league since being waived by the Dolphins prior to the start of the 2017 season.
“Yeah, the quality of the punting this year has been an issue and remains an issue and that that ties into the field position,” said head coach Sean McDermott. “We’ve got to get to find an answer here, so we obviously made the move.”
BY THE NUMBERS: 15 – The Bills have now allowed one more touchdown pass this season than they did all of 2017 when they led the league with just 14 allowed.
